Glossary

Character Item

 * Character Item (キャラ アイテム; Chara Item) are personal items that tie to a character for whatever reason given. The most famous Vocaloid character item is Hatsune Miku's spring onion, which is incorrectly called leek to this day.

Derived

 * Derived (Derivative, 派生キャラ) means something that is based on another source. In terms of fanmades, it refers to a character that was intentionally based on another character in appearance.
 * 1) Example: Zatsune Miku; while she is her own character, she is however derived directly from official Vocaloid Hatsune Miku, having a similar outfit with black hair.

Genderswap

 * Genderswap, (Genderbend/change); an attempt to achieve the opposite version of a Vocaloids standard gender.
 * 1) Example: With the use of audio tuning software to repitch a song, so the original singers is higher or lower; depending on the gender, the pitch is meant to simulate the opposite gender.
 * 2) using the Vocaloid software itself and with configuration, gain the same effect.

Human Vocaloid

 * Human Vocaloid (人力ボーカロイド; 人力Vocaloid) (referred to as such due to their vocaloid-centric nature) are live singers with Vocaloid-inspired avatars. Some of them may attempt to sound like a Vocaloid using their own voices. They usually sing music that were composed to be sung/or covered by any of the official/fanmade Vocaloids. They are prevalent in Nico-Nico Douga but are present as well in YouTube. They are sometimes called Uttate Mita in Nico-Nico Douga, though it pertains to singers that do not use such avatars.

The term to describe a human personifying themselves as a Vocaloid varies among the fandom.
 * 1) Humanloid and Autoloid have been seen.

Item War

 * Item War (持ち物戦争, Mochimono Sensou) is a heated discussion or argument concerning items to be wielded by a character.

Mascot

 * Mascot; a person, animal, or object adopted by a group as a symbolic figure especially to bring them good luck. While the Vocaloid themselves are mascots, in terms of the fandom a "mascot" is also something else.
 * 1) Example: Hachune Miku is not only associated with the producer behind Levan Polka, but also the song itself. The Mascots will normally appear in their producers work either as a sign of who made the song, or as an avatar representing the maker themselves, or something entirely different all together.
 * 2) Hachune is also considered Hatsune Miku's mascot.
 * 3) Example: Characters that are more bizarre or 'intended parodies' of the original; Vocaloid Mascots are simply exaggerated or parodied representations of existing Vocaloids, often they are non singing characters.

Sub derivative

 * Subderivative in terms of fanmades, refers to a character that is based on an existing derivative. It could also refer to a derivative character whose creation was inspired by an original character.
 * 1) Example: Chara-C (subderivative) is based on Chara-B (derivative), who was based on Chara-A (original).
 * 2) Example: Akaiko; while she is her own character, her creation derived from using Akaito as a base. Akaito is derived from official Vocaloid Kaito.

Subspecies

 * Subspecies (亜種; Ashu) in the Vocaloid fandom, the term is another way to describe Vocaloid Derivatives.

Variant

 * Variant, means something that is differing from a norm or standard. In terms of fanmades,
 * 1) this can be applied quite often to characters who are simply recolors of exiting characters.
 * 2) or when an original/derivative is simply seen in another form, but is still the same character. For example, Hatsune Miku figures such as Snow Miku and Cherry Miku, same character different colored theme.

Vocaloid

 * Vocaloid (ボーカロイド, Bōkaroido) is a singing synthesizer application, it is distributed by the Japanese company Yamaha. It is currently on its third series.